Unseeable Things
by Byakko
Summary: Mousse x Shampoo. Serious style, dark. After up and leaving, Mousse comes back after some years. Blind, limping, and not himself he conceals everything that happened in the past years. You can't see the soul of a blind man.


A footstep dug into the road-grit, followed by a vague shuffling on the same ground.

"Hey, rascal!"

A young boy's excited squeal to the left. That boy, getting through the house-gate andhitting the gravel once he landed from his leap.

"Wait up!" said an exasperated voice. A young woman, probably the boy's sister.  
_'I doubt the mother...' _

A yelp. Lots of gravel moving at one time. And then a loud, loud cry.  
_'Hm, up and fell...'_

"See what happens!" shouted his sister. Her footsteps were swift, and stopped when she knelt down to tend to her brother.  
_'A scraped knee? A cut on the arm or leg perhaps? Or maybe nothing at all and the boy's just acting his age, when the shadow of a bump is as good as the real thing...' _

He'd heard enough.

Heavy and dragging sounds made the sister turn around abruptly. A person behind her blocked out the sun as he stood next to her; her brother had stopped crying and whimpered softly into his hands.

She looked up suspiciously, trying to make out some features of the man. His face was indistinct in the shadow, but it mattered little. He hadtwined a thick gray scarf around his face; and she wasn't really sure about this one but, it looked like he had tied a cloth over his eyes as well.

"Yes?"

He heard her caution and bent his head forwards almost apologetically.

"Is there still a Nekohaten Cafe here?"

The girl seemed relieved that all the man wanted was directions.

"Sure, if you want to reach it from here-"

"Thank you. I can find my own way,"

The girl watched as the man walked away slowly, hobbling with a limp right leg.She also noticed the curious way he kept to the extreme left of the road, his left hand constantly pressed against the wall as he walked.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He found the way from memory, and as he rounded a dully familiar corner, he found he could more or less follow his nose. The smell of the cooking was crystal clear.

_'Smells pretty good...'_

He paused a moment, and faced up towards the sky, feeling thegenerous splashes of warmth hit and spread over the uncovered parts of his face.

Yes, it was warm. Wonderfully so.

At a clear side of the line of stores, he took off layers and layers of thick and rough cloth, in a variety of dirty and blotched blends of brown, gray and dirty red. He discarded them on the ground, and with them, the thick smell of iron, and old rot.

Alas, the stench still lingered on him, he could smell it in the strands of his hair that fell on his face, in the presence of his skin. The stench glided on his shoulders.

He retained a black and softer robe; one long enough that it dragged across the ground at his feet, and covered his arms. He kept the dark grey scarf that wound around his face as well.

He kicked the pile of appalling clothes closer to the side of the street; and continued on his way.

When he stepped in, he paused a moment. His right foot was on the wood-step, his hand braced on the sides of the entrance. He listened, and turned his head about.

"Welcome to the Nekohaten." spoke an aged voice.

_Old hag..._

The thought was so nostalgic and sudden that he smiled a little to himself beneath the cloth around his face.

Cologne was silent for a moment. The man sighed softly, and assumed a more genteel demeanour.

"Lao ban niang," he greeted, dipping his head slightly as he stepped in.

He made a gesture of surveying with his head, sweeping left and right slightly, "Jin tian sen yi hai hao ma?" he asked goodnaturedly.

"Business is always slow in the early morning, but it'll pick up by lunch time," Cologne replied in Japanese.

The man stood still, cocking his head as if not comprehending.

"You must know a little Japanese," she said, her eyes shrinking shrewdly.

The man smiled, and replied softly, "A little. Enough,"

Cologne pretended to be satisfied and did not press the matter; her eyes surveyed the man quickly, even as she resumed her duty as host.

"Please, take a seat."

She hopped over to a table and chair near the wall, knocking against it slightly with her stick to indicate itto the man. He had not been looking at her or anything in particular directly since he stepped in, simply kept turning his head this way and that. A most definitely blind man, if not blind for any natural reason. The top half and bottom half of his face was concealed by cloths, leaving only his nose seen. Long hair escaped over the cloths and fell in front of his face like a long-drawn curtain. Messy and unkempt black hair grew to his waist behind him, jagged and ragged.

The man nodded, and hobbled slowly towards Cologne. His right foot, mostly lame and useless for propulsion,made small shuffling noises along the way. She took notice.

She hovered nearby as the man took his seat. He sat hunched and his face turned downwards to the table, for no reason that Cologne fathomed other than it did not matter to him to be looking forwards or not.

Cologne scrutinised him thoroughly, and knew that the man was feeling it. His clothes, while black, were aged and in some parts mysteriously a deeper color, as if more black or possibly red was dyed in. The fibers were rough and hewned, torn and ripped. He folded his arms securely, keeping his arms covered up to his wrists.

His wrists, how...taut, Cologne thought.

His wrists were thin, the bones jutted out cleanly, the skin drawn exceedingly thin over the joints.

Similar to his tight-drawn neck.

'An ever tension, ever ready,' she thought darkly.

His skin was pale, but not pasty, a dull paleness that, like the thin muscles in his neck and wrist, looked drawn. It looked tempered, a hard-worn skin. The kind gotten from hard days and pains. How much pain, she could not tell.

'No more use for wondering,'shethought to herself.

The man had been silent throughout her scrutinisation; oh he knew she knew of course. How could he not?

"Was this your plan, coming here?" she asked,setting foot on the table to face him.

The man was silent for a moment, Cologne saw his fists clench slightly; but he began to chuckle.

"There was really no plan," he replied quietly.

"Take off that rag and speak clearly," she said sternly.

The man raised his head, attempting to look at the old one through the cloth over his eyes. He made no motion of assent, but he did as he was told.

He pulled down the cloth over his mouth and continued speaking with her.

"There was no plan," he repeated.

"Oh? I doubt it. It could be yours or it could be his," Cologne replied darkly.

The man gritted his teeth, "No no, he had nothing to do with me being here, you have no worries."

"Perhaps that _should _make me worry," she snapped, "He would cut you loose and leave you to your own devices? Would he now? Would he..."

Cologne paused and eyed the man critically before again speaking lowly, "Don't fool yourself, you're his now."

_KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILLKILLKILLKILL! KILL! KILLKILLKILL!_

"No I'm not." he smiled as he said it.

"Say the truth."

_KILLKILLKILL KILL KILL KILL! KILL KILLKILL!_

He folded his arms slowly. Both hands gripped the opposite's lower arms, and he rubbed them up and down hard.

"Heh," he replied quietly, "He affected me, I'm not STUPID enough, to not admit that,"

"So just how stupid are you? Stupid enough to actually come back _here_. This is his plan and you know that."

KILL KILL KILL KILLKILL KILL KILLKILL KILL!

He twitched.

"Even if he planned this, even if he knew I'd come back here," he growled under his breath, "I won't do what he thinks I'll do. Not the remotest chance."

"That's what you think, isn't it?" snorted Cologne, "I know him well. Going through him, he can make you do anything."

The man almost snarled, "I went through hell not to be his pawn!"

"You went through hell to become one," Cologne retorted.

The man paused, and grimaced.

"So saying...even then, I'll control myself, I can. He gave me something to control, and he did teach me to control."

"Right, _he _taught you," Cologne moved a little closer, her voice now even softer, "He taught you the ways to use it, the best way to let it loose. He never taught you to control it."

He grinned sardonically, "Maybe, maybe that's true. Now aren't we all in trouble."

_KILL KILLKILL KILL KILL KILLKILL!_

Cologne stood back again and bit back a pang of fear. There was the creepening glaze of madness just behind that piece of cloth. It glimmered, shimmered and died down...but never was it extinguished. It was alarming; in him, it was not something that should be in him. He would go that man's way now, that man that tempered him.

This man before her was not safe. He could not be here.

"Our family did your mother a wrong, does that come to mind?" she asked cautiously.

The man shook his head a little, but it was to clear his thoughts. He tilted his upwards, to ponder and brought his head level with the old martial artist again.

"Oh it does, have-no-doubt." he smiled.

**KILL KILLKILL KILL KILLKILL KILL! KILL!**

He breathed heavily, blowing the thoughts from mind.He replied softly and steadily, "A mistake. I can understand a mistake."

"But he used that as a reason to train you, didn't he?"

"_One _of them, yes. But not one I took." he replied.

"So, what _was_ your reason?" Cologne asked coolly.

"A reason you can always expect from me."

He breathed lightly. Smiled. A truly light smile, tired, but light.

Cologne felt the grip of threat slacken, but only by a margin. One thing now was good, that this man here, kept a personal reason for his actions. Be it as it may, he was still dangerous, highly so.

'_That man_, breaks things,' Cologne thoughtly darkly, '_Anything._'

But this man felt her fear now.

His hands gripped harder, bit into their own skin.

"He didn't win. He got his kicks, I let him do it, but he didn't win. I'm not here to kill you, or her. I'll never do that. Never,"

kill kill killkill

His hands lost their power, and he sighed.

"Don't be angry with me, please. I'm already so with myself," his smile became tired, "I don't know why I'm here, I really don't." He smiled peaked at the edge of his mouth, and then withdrew again.

"I know I shouldn't be here, but I had nowhere else to go, nowhere I knew to be. Maybe I should have gone nowhere, but..." he pushed himself to answer, but he didn't know how, "Gods knows why I'm here."

Cologne looked at him, and if he could see, he might have seen it was kindly, "Surely you know why?"

The man's face became blank and a wistful ache crossed it, and he swayed his head.

"Of all things, yes, I pondered that too. Trust me," his smile brought back that old darkness and grimness again, "It's not that. Not that anymore, there's nothing left here."

'Yourself you mean?' Cologne wondered.

Now, she pondered once more on political things.

"You nearly destroyed our family temple,"

"You're family members tend to exaggerate. I entered your house but I'll be damned if I did anything before you're daughters and grand-daughters charged me," he said ruefully.

"You attacked them instead of running." She replied.

"I'm the injured party," he thumped his right leg.

Cologne laughed aloud, "Ho ho ho! You're not incompetent still are you?"

"That's right." he replied sardonically.

Cologne paused.

"You want to know how well I can control? You don't know what it took to stop myself slicing them to shreds,"

"You have no idea, how I would have loved, to just..."

"Let my weapons hit on target."

kill Kill KIll KILL KILL KILL **kill** KILL**KILLKILL **

Cologne peered at his face, a rocky tapestry of shadows and crevices.. The contortion was recessed, but there. Dark, but crawling out.

"How much control do you have."

He growled.

"You came here, you want to stay here, you must answer my question." She snapped at him, feeling that sense of threat and danger returning.

The man came out of his dark places. He pondered, thinking off himself disgustedly.

"It's enough. I know that. It has to be enough. Give me, a week, to settle, maybe slightly more."

"Oh," he began to add, "And I'll not be staying here all that long. I'm running, and Japan just a stepping stone along the way."

"It's a large one, so you best stay on it." She replied not unkindly.

"Sure it is," he laughed, "It is," he convinced himself with a sigh, "It can't be helped, I suppose. Thank you."

Cologne seemed satisfied with him, but still, there were so many issues yet,"And what if _he_ follows?"

The man cringed and his back arched visibly.

KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL **KILL KILLKILL KILLKILLKILL**

His thoughts had a voice and they were familiar and booming.

"You think this is part of _his _plan, and maybe he thinks this is part of _his_ plan. Well, so be it. Let him think that, I'll run before he arrives."

"What about facing him?"

The man paused, and shook his head, "Not here. It'll get...messy, and...unpleasant. This place doesn't deserve that."

**Kill for me**

"Here," he said simply, and his mind seemed soothed," Here's untouchable."

He turned and seemed to face her.

"Forgive me," he said quietly.

Cologne shook her head worriedly.

"You were unmatchable in only one thing before, you know."

"Your obsessive streak. Runs in your family, runs in him."

"They all ended up in disaster in the end. An uncontrollable force in them that drove them to horrible ends."

"It'll be the same with you."

"I know, I know. How could I not know? I know too many things now..." he sighed.

"But my own disaster. I won't make it yours, or hers."

His gripped tighter, "I swear that."

"Mousse?" shouted a surprised voice from the man's side.

He grimaced clearly, and shrank from the familiar voice.

"Well, I suppose I can't stop you from working in this restuarant now, can I?" Cologne said confidentially to him.

"What? How is she knowing I'm here, going to make a difference? Oh please, she'll want me out unless you say so."

He heard her walking up to them.

"Let's see your control," Cologne whispered, almost jokingly, before hastily withdrawing away.

"Mousse?" she sounded skeptical now.

He grimaced again and let things go.

kill kill kill...kill

His arms felt itchy.

He grit his teeth and looked upwards a little.

"Hello, Xian Pu,"

* * *

**Lao ban niang - **Lady Boss  
**Jing tian sen yi hai hao ma -**Has business been good today 

**Author's Notes: **The first upload had a lot of errors cos horrid Edit tool. Hopefully, this one would be better.


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